Today’s Writing Tip: From Worse to Worse

I’m surprised at how often I see the phrase “from worse to worse” in print. It doesn’t make any sense. It’s a lot like the term “I could care less.” Neither one says what you want them to say.

Let’s reason this out. If I am number 10 in line in the grocery store and I move forward one spot, I become number nine. If I move back one spot, I become number 11. In either case, there is a sense of motion and movement. Something changes.

If I go from worse to worse, nothing much changes. I am still number 10 in line at the grocery store – or maybe I’m 10 1/2. I have to go from worse to worst in order to see a significant change.

An easy way to remember this one is to think of the opening line in A Tale of Two Cities: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Thus, you want to go from worse to worst. Although of course, you don’t really. That is the outcome that most of us are hoping to avoid.

As a postscript, I will add that the correct way of saying I don’t give a damn is “I couldn’t care less,” because if you could care less it means that you already care. If you couldn’t care less, you care so little that your interest in the matter is currently negligible. Thus, it couldn’t become any more unimportant to you; hence, you couldn’t care less.

Sigrid Macdonald is the author of three books, including Be Your Own Editor http://tinyurl.com/7wnk5se and two erotic short stories, which she wrote under the pen name Tiffanie Good. Silver Publishing just released “The Pink Triangle,” a tale of friendship, lust, and betrayal. You can view her story here: http://tinyurl.com/6v65rgr

Blog Posts, Attribution, Fair Use, and Copyright

I once freelanced as Managing Editor for an online startup. This company needed a writing staff built from scratch, which I was happy to do, but less happy to have one employee more or less imposed on me because of the new hire’s friendship with one of the owners.

I didn’t see it as much of a problem initially since this new hire’s credentials looked pretty solid. But the writer didn’t have blogging experience, so some of the things you might tend to assume or take for granted? Couldn’t be done in this case. Since I didn’t know this person from a hole in the ground, I felt the need to lay out a few ground rules just in case.

I carefully explained to the new hire (at the risk of insulting someone’s intelligence) about the rules about attribution. “Generally, if you’re promoting a product, it’s OK to use product images from the official site. It’s best to attrubute sources, but when you’re helping to sell a product, the owners don’t seem terribly interested in suing you”.

This site was retail-related, so there would be plenty of promotional writing–almost ad copy. But we also did non-promotional writing, so I also mentioned a few other cautions. “Use royalty-free stock images wherever possible. If you do use someone else’s work in reference to their web page, blog, or work, be sure to attribute the source. Be transparent. Don’t just lift things without permission–give attribution at the very very least.”

That advice–given years ago–still played too fast and loose with the rules of permission & attribution. It should have been far more hardcore scared-of-getting-sued. So I blame myself when I learned that this person, who was still with the company after I moved on, got into a serious amount of hot water for disregarding my advice.

According to my sources, this person lifted some images from another website without attributing the source, and did so for a post that was non-promotional. So basically this employee “borrowed” non-royalty-free images, didn’t attribute, and didn’t get permission. Everybody does it once in a while, right? Right? RIGHT?

Except in this case, the person who owned the copyright to these images got in touch with the company and demanded compensation. And he got PAID. As in, compensated big time in order to avoid legal action.

Did you know that in such cases you can complain to the web hosting service of the offending web page and–potentially–have the site taken off the web for good due to Terms of Service violations?

Read the fine print in that web hosting agreement of yours and you’ll see…those who are borrowing images, text, or other content without attribution, permission, etc don’t just live with the possibility of getting a Cease and Desist or even a potential lawsuit. They also run the risk of losing the entire website.

Permission and attribution take far less time to accomplish that building a whole new website from scratch.

–Joe Wallace

A Mini-Freelance Epidemic?

A lot of freelancers I know are having a bit of an identity crisis at the moment. Some of them wouldn’t describe it quite like that, but I find it very interesting that some of the best ones I know are branching out into new territory, taking chances on new types of work, and generally mutating themselves into something rather different than what they started off to become.

One freelancer made the jump into racy fiction–a big switch from the comparatively dry, totally fact-based work she had been doing prior to adding a bit of steaminess to her repertoire. Another freelancer I know has taken up painting. And then there’s my own turn as a vinyl seller, DJ, and multi-media junkie. Is this an identity crisis, or simply diversifying?

For me, it was a bit of both in the beginning. Success in one area doesn’t necessarily come at the expense of success in another. But when I started, I wasn’t sure about that. How much time could I dedicate to my new income selling highly collectible vinyl records and DJing and still maintain my freelance writing and editing work? Turns out both work together just fine–it’s just a question of time management.

Others I know have put in enough time in one type of freelance trench and are ready to explore different options–they want to keep their hand on the till, so to speak, but move out of the heavy lifting part of freelancing into a more managerial role. And who can blame any of them for that? Writing isn’t easy work in spite of what our office-bound friends might think. Neither is editing. Or PR, photography, musicianship, etc. It’s WORK. Even when it’s fun.

But if you’re thinking about diversifying, chances are good that you’ve done one or two things in your head that have brought you to this point. Or maybe it’s safer to say that I have done this. Either way, have you caught yourself saying to yourself:

1. You don’t know how you can keep up the pace/lack of pace that your current work offers;

2. Your income is wonderful–when it’s actually there;

3. Your income is wonderfully consistent and plentiful, but you’re spending far too much time on projects for other people and not enough on your own;

4. Your work is great, yet not quite as satisfying as you’d like it to be;

5. Your freelance career has taken off, but headed into a direction you’d rather not be moving toward.

In my own case, I’ve had all five of those at various times in the last seven years. The real question I felt all these statements leading up to? What’s next? What choices do I have to make to answer these concerns? It’s not easy, and no blog post can answer that for you–but I find being aware that the “identity crisis” is happening is a good start toward resolving it. Recognizing the internal tug-of-war over these issues helps. You’re NOT going crazy, you’re not a flake for wanting to try new things. Most importantly of all, doubt is GOOD.

The supremely self-confident person can easily become the self-delusional dork with a misstep or two. Doubt keeps you honest, and sometimes leads you to take a few chances you might not have otherwise attempted. The key is–at least for me–to take a few calculated risks at first and see how things play out before making a full-blown commitment. One of the most important rules in marketing is to do market research before you try to launch a new venture. That sort of thinking can also apply to your freelance identity crisis if you’re having one. Give it a shot–whatever IT is–on a part-time basis and see how it feels.

Joe Wallace has been many things in his long and winding career. His first unsupervised job was as a janitor. He later ditched that for a job in radio, and eventually wrote his way into all sorts of fun, money, and trouble from Texas to Iceland. Today he’s head mischief maker at Turntabling.net, and blogs/writes/edits/DJs for fun and profit in Chicago.

Part Time Freelancing

Freelance Folder recently featured a blog post called Part Time Freelancing–Is It Worth It? The post addresses a variety of concerns for the part-time freelancer, but leaves out a question on the minds of many newcomers to the freelance game.

“Do I mention that I’m only a part-time freelancer?”

That’s not a big deal to some, and a much bigger issue for others depending on the client. Larger companies seem to be interested in people they can form long-term relationships with, while it seems smaller clients are just happy to get the work done. How much scrutiny is placed on the full-or-part-time question is really down to you.

Even when I have been a part-time freelancer in the past, I’ve never mentioned it, and it’s never actually come up in any conversation. But some freelancers are compelled to say something about it for whatever reason–usually to address any potential scheduling conflicts that might arise between the client work and the non-freelance gig.

I w0n’t offer any advice on which path is best as it’s really a personal choice based on your needs, but I can say this from my own personal experience–I’m mostly concerned with maintaining a professional image. Actually, “concerned” is the wrong word. I’m anal-retentive about it. And I have a personal policy that I DO NOT bring up side issues like whether I’m full or part time.

Instead, if I anticipate schedule issues, I simply make it known to the client that he or she is not my only client and that my workflow is manageable, but does require some allowances in order to make deadline.

This is tricky–you want the client to feel they are getting your full attention, but you have to communicate that you are not at their 24-7 beck and call. I simply begin and maintain the conversation by mentioning my other ongoing work in a general way without revealing much.

Oh, and I also don’t over-extend myself to the point where the clients don’t get their money’s worth.

It’s your call on how much to reveal, but my personal preference is to leave unnecessary details out of the picture. Keep it simple, that’s my motto.

Joe Wallace writes about vinyl records and the music industry, personal finance, and makes snarky jokes at the expense of celebrities. He enjoys writing about himself in the third person, impersonating Ronald Reagan, and makes field recordings of strange noises with expensive microphones. Visit his vinyl blog and bad album cover emporium Turntabling.net.

First Impressions Count

I was just looking at a website designed to sell gear to freelancers, offering personalized service at a better price than with larger resellers. The site’s copy included, “We will connect you with the latest technology”.

But the site design was horribly out of date by about ten years. My first impression was definitely not good–how could a company offer to sell me “the latest technology” when the site itself didn’t keep up with that concept?

As it turns out, after a few minutes of exploring I discovered that the site had been last updated a decade ago, but was still haunting the Internet with its promises. And as far as being inactive goes, it’s probably a good thing–I shudder to think what would be happening to that business right now if it were a going concern.

I hate to admit this, but seeing that made me click over to my own resume page to give a critical once-over to it first-impressionwise. And naturally I found a few faults in my own presentation. Faults that will take a small bit of time to correct and update, but faults nonetheless.

The old wheeze is true–you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Sometimes making one tweak is enough to steer someone away from the wrong idea at first glance.

In the case of the site I found, simply not making the claim to hook up buyers with “the latest technology” and finding a more effective sales pitch would have gone over a lot better. Sure, that’s all moot because the site seems as dead as the Dodo. But it’s a valid point, regardless. Can you tweak your own presentation by a few sentences and make it more effective? In my own case, definitely.

Joe Wallace is an audio junkie who collects rare and weird vinyl records, vintage analog synthesizers, and likes recording when he’s not pounding the freelance pavement. His vinyl blog, Turntabling.net, is a repository for all sorts of weirdness and rare goodness on vinyl.

Freelance Money: There’s No Such Thing As Passive Income

by Joe Wallace

I don’t really enjoy reading my fellow freelance blogs at times, because I sometimes run into things that make me cranky. For example, the use of the term “passive income”, which I just ran across again while doing some research on freelance stats and figures.

Do you want to know the rules about making passive income from your writing online? Do you want to learn how to earn more money by using the techniques of passive income?

I have bad news for you. There is NO SUCH THING as passive income. And I really can’t believe there are still active blogs out there pushing the idea like it’s the hot new thing. Aren’t we DONE with that notion yet?

Look at the picture to the left. All those flowers, growing like mad. Beautiful, aren’t they? Wouldn’t you just love to step out on the back porch and watch these swaying in the breeze? And what a life they have, just soaking up the sun, waiting for the rain. Passive. You could sell these flowers someday and make some easy money.

Except for all that planting, weeding, landscaping and soil treatment.

So-called passive income is the same. Sure, you can write an e-book and throw it out there for sale, a digital download that you never have to worry about again. Once it’s up and out the door, it’s just waiting to be purchased and studied.

But you’re competing with 2.8 million other non-traditional books (e-books included) as reported in 2010. People who publish hardcopy books actually have it easier–only 316,000 print editions came out in 2010 according to this Reuters article.

So if you want to make some sales, you’re going to need to market yourself. It’s you versus 2.8 million others. Don’t get discouraged by that, but do accept the reality.

The same is true for your “passive income” website with all those affiliate links, article marketing sites, etc. Passive? Hardly. All that cross-linking, Reddit spamming, StumbleUpon posts and other activities encouraged by the passive income people don’t add up to couch potato, do they? Nope, passive income is another one of those goofball phrases made up to sell people on an idea.

It’s not ALL downside though–I can say this, one thing people who try to engage in passive marketing soon learn about is networking, and that is a very important skill for freelancers to hone at all career levels. It’s easy to stay in your comfort zone with networking, forget that you need to swim with the sharks, and keep up with the latest trends.

Passive income can only be found one way, really…I’m off to indulge in that Quixotic weekly pastime later today–buying a lottery ticket rarely pays off, but if it ever does, it will be the first time in my freelance life I ever got money for doing nothing.

Joe Wallace wears too many hats. He writes web content and manages social media for clients in the finance industry, he’s an avid record collector, vinyl blogger, and author of WTF Records: The Turntabling.net Guide to Weird and Wonderful Vinyl.

He’s currently shopping for a publisher for the book and plans an official companion DVD when he finds a moment to breathe. His hobbies include writing bio blurbs about himself in the third person, collecting records too weird for most people, and eating sushi.

Contact him for assignments, to sell your record collection, or with an offer to be his agent: jwallace@joe-wallace.com